Serves 2 to 3 Prep 10 min Cook 40 min Total 50 min Type Meal Origin Indian

Restaurant-Style Simple Chicken Curry

A from-scratch one-pan chicken curry: slow-cooked onions, ground curry powder, tomato, and raw chicken simmered through in the sauce. No base gravy required.

Serves 2 Prep 10 minutes Cook 40 minutes Units Rate

Overview

This sits apart from the rest of the Restaurant-Style series. The others all build on a pre-made Curry Base Gravy and finish in 10 to 15 minutes; this one is a from-scratch single-pan curry, structured the way a home cook (or a small restaurant kitchen without a base-gravy operation) would actually approach it. The flavour foundation comes from slow-cooked onions taken to translucent and lightly browned — 15 minutes on a low heat that no shortcut can replicate.

The build then follows a familiar arc: garlic, ginger, and cumin go in after the onions are sweet; a curry powder of your choice carries the bulk of the spicing (a pre-mixed blend like Madrass Mix or Curry Powder works fine, or anything in the Spice-Mixes folder); tomato and water or stock build the sauce; raw chicken finishes through in the simmering liquid. It's the simplest entry point in the series, with no base gravy and no pre-cooked chicken to prep.

The dish is forgiving. You can vary the curry powder, add or skip the chilli, swap chicken breast for thigh (thigh is more tolerant of slightly long cooking), and throw in pre-cooked vegetables at the end. Treat it as a chassis rather than a fixed recipe.

Ingredients

Slow-Cooked Onion Base

3 to 4 tbsp vegetable, sunflower, or olive oil
1 large or 2 medium onions, very finely chopped
2 tsp cumin seeds (or 1.5 tsp ground cumin, added later)
salt, to taste (go easy if using stock cubes — they're salty)

Aromatics

5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tsp ground ginger, or an equivalent piece of finely chopped fresh ginger
1.5 tsp ground cumin (only if you didn't use seeds above)

Spice

1.5 tbsp curry powder of your choice — see Curry Powder, Madrass Mix, Base Curry Powder, or a shop-bought blend
2 to 3 tsp chilli powder, to taste (optional)
1.5 tsp kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves), optional

Sauce

3 to 4 tbsp tomato purée, or 1 tin of chopped tomatoes (400 g), or 400 g passata
1 to 2+ mugs of hot water or stock (about 300 ml; halve if using tinned tomatoes or passata)
a few fresh chillies, finely chopped (optional)
2 to 3 tsp lemon juice (fresh ideal, bottled fine)

Chicken

150 g boneless chicken breast or thigh per person, chopped to your preferred size

Finish

pre-cooked vegetables of choice (optional)
a pinch of fresh coriander
a pinch of Garam Masala

Method

Stage 1 - Slow-cook the onions

Heat the oil in a heavy-based frying pan or saucepan on low to medium heat.
Add the chopped onion, cumin seeds (if using seeds rather than ground), and a pinch of salt.
Cook slowly for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onion turns translucent and starts to brown around the edges. This is where the dish's flavour foundation comes from — don't rush it.

Stage 2 - Aromatics and dry spice

Add the chopped garlic, ginger (powder or fresh), and ground cumin (only if you didn't use seeds in Stage 1).
Fry for 1 minute, stirring frequently, until the garlic loses its raw smell.
Add the curry powder, optional chilli powder, and optional kasuri methi.
Stir frequently for another minute. The pan should look dry and fragrant — splash in a little of the hot water if the spices start sticking.

Stage 3 - Sauce base

Add the fresh chillies if using.
Dollop in the tomato purée (or tinned tomatoes, or passata).
Pour in a mug of hot water or stock — about 300 ml. If you used tinned tomatoes or passata, halve that to about 150 ml.
Turn the heat up to medium-high. Mix well.
Cook for 10 minutes, stirring from time to time to stop the sauce catching on the base of the pan. Add a splash more water if the sauce tightens too far.

Stage 4 - Cook the chicken through

Squeeze in the lemon juice.
Add the chopped raw chicken. Stir to coat in the sauce.
Cook for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is cooked through. Cut a large piece open and check there's no pinkness before serving.

Stage 5 - Finish

Stir in any pre-cooked vegetables you want to add. Give them 2 to 3 minutes in the sauce to warm through.
Taste. Adjust salt; thin with extra water or stock if the sauce has tightened past where you want it.
Plate up. Scatter the fresh coriander on top and dust lightly with garam masala.

Notes

The slow onion cook really is the heart of this dish. Rushing it leaves the rest of the curry with nowhere to hide. Set a timer and let it happen properly.
Your curry powder choice will change the character of the dish entirely. A Madras-style blend gives you a hot, sour, tomato-forward result; a milder blend lands closer to a homely British curry; tandoori masala adds a touch of smokiness. Pick to taste, and feel free to mix two together if you fancy.
Chicken thigh is more forgiving than breast. It can sit a few extra minutes in the sauce without drying out on you. Breast is leaner but does need the cook time watched a bit more carefully.
For stock, dissolving a stock cube or two in hot water is the easiest route, and absolutely fine. A proper made-from-bones chicken stock gives you a noticeably better result if you happen to have one. Liquid stock from a carton works perfectly well too.
And the usual: all spoon measurements are level. 1 tsp = 5 ml, 1 tbsp = 15 ml.

Serving

Pair with plain basmati or Restaurant-Style Special Fried Rice. A piece of naan or chapati and a small bowl of raita round out the plate. This curry is a good base for chunky vegetable additions — courgette, potato, spinach, peas, all stir in at Stage 5.

Storage

Keeps 3 days in the fridge in a sealed container. Unlike the base-gravy BIR curries this one freezes well — portion into containers and freeze for up to 2 months. Reheat in a pan with a splash of water rather than the microwave to keep the chicken tender.